Tiffany Walsh

Professor Tiffany Walsh is returning to Victoria after an impressive career in the UK to work at Deakin University’s Institute for Frontier Materials at Geelong’s Waurn Ponds campus.

Professor Walsh took up her veski innovation fellowship in early 2012.

Research project title:Aiding developments in advanced materials with molecular simulation Research

Project description:Nature is able to manufacture strong and durable materials such as teeth, shells and bone using non-toxic ingredients like chalk and water. Professor Tiffany Walsh will use molecular simulations to see how nature manufactures these materials at the molecular level. The aim of her research is to learn nature’s approach to manufacturing, paving the way for manufacturers to make multi-functional and high-performance materials in a similar way.

Professor Walsh will establish a team at the Institute of Frontier Materials at Deakin University’s Geelong Campus to undertake world-leading research. Using the advanced capabilities of the new Victorian Life Sciences Computational Initiative’s (VLSCI) super computers, Tiffany will aim to identify nature’s methods and relate them to future bio-inspired manufacturing approaches.

Her research will also open up new areas of biotechnology to deliver solutions and advances in areas such as personalised healthcare that are both commercially viable and socially useful.

Key facts:

Described as a 'modern chemist' by Professor Peter Hodgson

Won a Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholarship

Co-led a successful application for a £5.3million Programme Grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and won industrial funding for a post-doctoral researcher from Unilever, UK.

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“Because a lot of my work is concerned with bio-molecules, it was a perfect fit with the priorities of the VLSCI. It was such a big draw card for me to come and be able to use this facility. I saw this as a chance to really invigorate my existing research program and begin to grow my research in a number of directions.”